Transportation News & Views

New bike parking facility in Santa Monica officially open for business!

The new $2-million Santa Monica Bike Center opened this morning — the largest secure bicycle parking facility of its kind in the nation.

The bike center’s two combined locations on the ground floor of the Santa Monica Place parking structure feature almost 5,300 square-feet of space and nearly 360 secure bicycle parking spaces. The full-service facility also includes rentals, attended bike valet, showers, lockers, self-service repairs, vending and restrooms. The bike center location at 4th Street and Broadway is near stops for many bus lines and is only block away from the future Expo Line light rail terminus scheduled to arrive in Santa Monica in 2015.

Metro provided $1.5 million in funding through its 2007 Call for Projects grant program. Metro Deputy CEO Paul Taylor and Metro Board Members Zev Yaroslavsky and Pam O’Connor were on hand for the grand opening ceremony today.

1. Every news item says how big the facilities are, but my first thought upon arrival was “smaller than I expected.” It’s great that the facility is there, but I think the descriptions have been a tad hyperbolic. The main location is a concrete facility with two rows of bike racks, a few benches and lockers, and two showers.

2. Enjoy changing in front of a gigantic, floor to ceiling, street-facing glass window! Usually locker room facilities are behind closed doors because people might, ya know, want to change in privacy. But the benches and lockers are in full view of everyone walking past. If you want to change in privacy, you’ll have to hope that no one is in the shower so you can take your clothing from the locker and change in there. There are only two showers, so if you want to blow dry your hair or otherwise make yourself presentable for work you’ll be causing other people to wait in line for a shower.

3. Access to the showers are by key card, but it’s hard to tell whether someone is currently taking a shower. Hope you don’t walk in on anybody!

4. It’s unclear whether the showers are co-ed or not. When I went in the employees had no idea if this was the case.

All in all, nice clean facility, but some mind-boggling design choices. Only about four racks were being used, but I’m sure this will go up over time.

Response to Q1: The entire facility has a capacity of 350 bikes, there are 166 spaces at 4th & Broadway and 184 spaces at 2nd & Colorado (97 member spaces and 87 on the operator side). The combined facility is equipped with two showers, four bathrooms, 106 lockers, eight benches, two floor pumps (one with tire changing tools), and one public self-service work stand with basic repair tools.

Response to Q2: The window treatments are not complete yet and the operators are aware of the obvious visibility from the street into the locker area. Please understand that the facility will continue to be enhanced now that Bike and Park Santa Monica has officially taken occupancy.

Response to Q3: On the inside of the door is a deadbolt that will allow someone to lock it from the inside and prevent another member from entering unexpectedly. When the door is locked from the inside, the outside of the door says “OCCUPIED” to indicate someone is using the shower/changing room. There is also signage up that emphasizes this is a shared facility and members need to be respectful of the time they spend in the shower/changing room to allow other members to use the space.

Response to Q4: The showers are labeled shower 1 and shower 2. This is meant to convey unisex accessibility, thereby allowing both showers to be in use simultaneously regardless of gender.